Medics euthanise 12 whales found alive among mass stranding of 77 on Orkney

An entire pod of 77 whales have died following a mass stranding on a beach in Orkney.

Dozens of the long-finned pilot whales were discovered stranded on the isle of Sanday around 10.45am on Thursday.

British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) medics were immediately sent to the scene and found the animals high up on the beach having evidently been stranded for several hours.

Only 12 of the whales were found to still be alive. Molly Brown, who works for BDMLR, said the charity would do its best to save them.

Around 77 of the animals were discovered high up on the isle of Sanday. British Divers Marine Life Rescue

But BDMLR confirmed on Thursday evening that a decision was made to euthanise the animals due to their condition deteriorating from the hours they had spent stranded on the beach resulting in crush injuries from their own weight.

They said there was also a high likelihood that they had inhaled water with the incoming tide.

Due to the ground they were on being “incredibly soft”, it is believed that the whales would have sunk even deeper into the sand when the tide washed over them and became unable to refloat themselves.

As many bodies as possible will now be recovered for post-mortem sampling to try and determine the circumstances of the standing.

A spokesperson for the BDMLR said: “The Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS) will attempt to recover as many bodies as possible for post-mortem sampling and examination to try to determine the circumstances of stranding.

“This is currently unknown as there are no obvious indications as to why they all stranded today, and it may be some time before full results are available due to the huge task of conducting these examinations.

“We would like to thank all of our volunteer Marine Mammal Medics who attended this incident along with members of the local community for their efforts in these distressing circumstances.

“Thank you also to all of our supporters who have been sending their heartfelt sentiments to the team, as well as SMASS and other colleagues in the background who have been assisting our rescue coordinators and vets with technical support too.”

In July last year, there was a mass stranding of pilot whales in the Western Isles.

A rescue effort has been launched after dozens of pilot whales were found stranded on a beach in the Western Isles. Dusty Dudley

Around 55 of the animals, ten of which were still alive, had became stuck at Traigh Mhor beach in the North Tolsta area of the Isle of Lewis.

In that case, all of the animals also died.

Highlands & Islands

Entire pod of 55 whales die after becoming stranded on beach

It is believed that the whole pod of 55 whales became stranded after one female gave birth

“The reason for the whales stranding is currently unknown, but pilot whales are notorious for their strong social bonds, so often when one whale gets into difficulty and strands, the rest follow leading to more of them stranding,” the BDMLR said at the time.